Business Briefs

ASTORIA — Coast Community Radio (CCR), the non-profit radio station in the Columbia-Pacific region, recently received a $10,000 grant from the Templin Foundation of Pacific County. News Director Joanne Rideout wrote the grant for money to replace an important piece of equipment at the CCR tower on Megler Mountain overlooking the Astoria Bridge.

Station Manager Graham Nystrom will administer the funds by purchasing a new Davicom, a critical device that closely monitors and communicates information about the overall health of multiple functions at the tower’s very large and expensive 5,000 watt Harris transmitter. It also allows us to remotely control certain aspects of the transmitter from our studios.

The purchase and installation will take a couple of months. “When complete, this project will facilitate something great and of long lasting value to our organization. We are very appreciative to the Templin Foundation for providing Coast Community Radio this opportunity,” Nystrom said.

The Templin Foundation was initiated by an endowment from Russell Templin a citizen and businessman in Pacific County in the 1950s. Since the 1990s, when the foundation starting awarding grants, it has distributed over $4 million to a host of causes in south Pacific County.

LONG BEACH — The leading Expedia travel website on Jan. 25 named the Long Beach Peninsula the nation’s best “lesser-known” place to visit in the month of August.

“The start of the new year means a fresh, blank calendar ahead of you, eager to be filled with travel adventures and vacations. You’ve already marked the bigger cities off your list, like New York City and Orlando, so it’s time to discover some of the lesser-known gems across the country this year,” the website said.

“Whether you spend your time at the shore photographing the North Head Lighthouse or following the steps of Lewis and Clark, you’ll be pressed to find anywhere more appealing at this time of year,” Expedia said of the Peninsula.

Astoria was named the runner-up as best place to visit in April.

LONG BEACH — Pacific County’s unemployment rate rose to 7.4 percent in December 2017, 1 percent higher than in November. The increase may reflect a seasonal drop for some industries and the delay in Dungeness crab season. Eight of the state’s 39 counties had higher unemployment rates in December.

Despite the increase, the county’s jobless rate was the lowest it has been in December since the economically booming year of 2006.

Washington state’s jobless rate in December was a non-seasonally adjusted 4.9 percent, half a percent higher than in November.

Oregon’s unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.1 percent in December from 4.2 percent in November. Oregon’s unemployment rate was the same as the U.S. unemployment rate, which was also 4.1 percent in December. The state’s annual average jobless rate for 2017 was 4.0 percent, which was Oregon’s lowest annual average unemployment rate since comparable records began in 1976. Oregon’s second-lowest annual average unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, which was reached in 2016 and 1995.

OLYMPIA — A proposed program could provide grants for community college students to learn trades in high demand in rural areas, the WNPA Capital Bureau reported this month.

All counties in the state would qualify except for King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Watcom, Thurston, Clark, Benton, and Spokane counties.

Lisa Perry, representing Sierra Pacific Industries, a timber company in Skagit and Lewis counties, said at the bill’s hearing that at least one line in the company is not operating because of the lack of skilled workers. She said schools don’t encourage students to study fields like electric engineering, mechanics, or other trade fields. This bill, she said, would allow local industries to work with community colleges in their area to identify industry needs.

SEASIDE — Clatsop Community Bank reported a net loss of $79,000 in the last three months of 2017, compared to net profit of $121,000 in the same period of 2016, according to a press release.

The bank explained the loss was due to a requirement of the federal Tax Cuts and Job Act enacted Dec. 22. Clatsop Community Bank was required to revalue its deferred tax assets and liabilities to account for the future impact of lower corporate tax rates and other provisions of the legislation. Based on its analysis, Clatsop recorded a one-time net tax charge of $268,000. This increase in income tax expense was counted in the fourth quarter of 2017 and was in addition to the normal provision for income tax related to pre-tax net operating income.

ASTORIA — Tongue Point Job Corps Center announce in January that Chef Harley Badger has been appointed food services manager.

Badger is a graduate of Philadelphia Restaurant School, where he perfected his French cooking skills. He went on to work in large resorts in the San Juan Islands, opened two display kitchens for Victor’s in Seattle and apprenticed in European style cooking at the Four Seasons Restaurant in Philadelphia. He then opened Danielle’s restaurant in Longview, which included cooking classes and catering for such notable people as the cast of Men of Honor starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert DeNiro.

Badger took his decades of culinary and restaurant experience to Tongue Point Job Corps Center as culinary arts instructor in 2011.

“Ever since his arrival at TPJCC, he has successfully taught skills and helped numerous students become graduates in the culinary arts. Chef Badger exemplifies what a hospitality professional must do to become successful, in not only shaping the nation’s youth, but keeping staff, students, and visitors’ palates happy,” Job Corps said in a press release.

Pacific County’s Economic Development Council (PCEDC) through a grant from the Washington Department of Commerce, specifically to assemble overall economic and recreational development plans for the county. The next public session is Feb. 28 in Ilwaco (5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Ilwaco Community Room, Ilwaco Library).

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